Waterfalls Signify Determination, Resolve and More (KBG-70 Winners)

Why are waterfalls one of the most visited places on earth? We had asked this question in our online contest KBG-70, the 70th edition of Kaun Banega Ghumakkad. And we received a wide spectrum of interesting responses. Here is a sample:

"Waterfall is turbulent yet still, bestowed to thrill."

"Waterfall overcomes obstacles like rocks and boulders."

"Waterfall is music to the ears."

"Waterfall is gentle at core but mighty on shore."

"Waterfall is the power that awes me, music that soothes me, abundance and beauty that inspires me."

Just one picture of Boghata waterfalls in north eastern Telangana yielded 59 different captions. We thank all the participants of KBG-70. Their creative responses set us thinking. 

A waterfall has many life lessons. We have attempted to summarise it in the table below. The idea is not to be prescriptive about life but to learn through sharing and introspection. Hope you agree.

No.	Characteristics of a Waterfall	Life Lessons for Humans
1	The Flow	Keep moving in life- sometimes with full force (as in monsoon) or just a trickle (in lean season). But move you must.
2	The Fall	Grace in falling. Never be afraid of falling. Resume your flow thereafter.
3	Rocks and boulders as obstacles	Overcome the challenges in life. Like a waterfall, go over or around the obstacles. But keep going more stronger. More the obstacles, the greater your resolve and determination!
4	The Roar	Heard loudly only after nearing the waterfall. Similarly, be humble. Riding on one’s ego doesn’t take one far. ‘Ahankar’ leads to one’s downfall.
5	The Power	Share it with others. A waterfall doesn’t complain if the water is diverted to a hydro-electric plant or an irrigation canal.
6	The Beauty	Let others appreciate us. No need to brag about our success or achievements. The waterfall remains there. It is we who go there to appreciate it.
7	The Lean Season	Have patience in life. A seasonal waterfall awaits the next monsoon for the flow to resume. It continues to enthrall the visitors thereafter.

Tallest Waterfalls

We are sharing below a short list of the tallest waterfalls in India and overseas. Feel free to share your pictures or experiences of visiting any of the waterfalls listed here. Waterfalls can be single drop or multi-tiered. It can also be seasonal or perennial.

Tallest Waterfalls In India - courtesy Wikipedia

No.	Waterfall	Height, Feet	State/Location
1	Nohkalikai Falls	1,115	East Khasi Hills district, Meghalaya
2	Nohsngithiang Falls or Mawsmai Falls	1,033	East Khasi Hills district, Meghalaya
3	Dudhsagar Falls	1,020	South Goa District, Goa
4	Kynrem Falls	1,001	East Khasi Hills district, Meghalaya
5	Meenmutty Falls	984	Wayanad district, Kerala
6	Thalaiyar Falls	974	Batlagundu, Dindigul district, Tamil Nadu
7	Barkana Falls	850	Shimoga district, Karnataka
8	Jog Falls	830	Shimoga district, Karnataka
9	Khandadhar Falls	801	Kendujhar district & Sundergarh district, Odisha
10	Vantawng Falls	751	Serchhip district, Mizoram

Tallest Waterfalls in the World - Norway has many tall waterfalls!

Waterfall	Height	Locality	Country
Tugela Falls	3,225 ft	KwaZulu-Natal	South Africa
Angel Falls	3,212 ft	Bolívar	Venezuela
Tres Hermanas Falls	2,999 ft	Junin	Peru
Olo'upena Falls	2,953 ft	Hawaii	United States
Yumbilla Falls	2,940 ft	Amazonas	Peru
Skorga	2,871 ft	Møre og Romsdal	Norway
Vinnufossen	2,822 ft	Møre og Romsdal	Norway
Balåifossen	2,789 ft	Vestland	Norway
Mattenbachfall	2,756 ft	Lauterbrunnental	Switzerland
Pu'uka'oku Falls	2,756 ft	Hawaii	United States

Ghumakkad has also been to some not-so-well-known waterfalls in India. See the pictures with linked stories below.

Chaparai Water Cascade Located in the Araku valley, Eastern Ghats, India.

Kuntala Waterfalls- Monsoon Getaway from Hyderabad

Munnar- The Charm of Kerala - Valara waterfall on Kochi-Munnar road

Pallivasal waterfall. Best visited in monsoon. In March, reduced to a trickle as in the picture below.

Cascade Waterfall Kodaikanal
Located few kms before Kodaikanal. It is fed by the overflow of Kodaikanal lake. Highly visited spot as you can see the number of tourists at bottom of the picture.

Lastly, the Boghata Waterfall! Its picture formed the Contest KBG-70. Another getaway from Hyderabad. You may browse the link for more details.

Captions Received

We are sharing below all the captions received for the Contest. Do the captions convey a life lesson or two? Do comment at the end of this post.

No.	Name	Caption for KBG-70 Contest
1	Ajai Bhumri	रोक सके तो रोक के दिखा
2	Ajai Bhumri	हम मतवाले नौजवान
3	Amandeep Kaur	Just go with the flow!
4	Avinash Tiwari	Main to chala jidhar mile rasta. Koi kya jane kahan meri manzil
5	Avinash Tiwari	Jeevan chalne ka naam
6	Avinash Tiwari	Nischay dridh ho to rasta nikal hi ata hai
7	BC Jayaprakash	I found my paradise
8	Bharat Ladha	भले कठिन हो डगर , रास्ते निकल ही जाते हैं।
9	C Raghuram	Where the fall is majestic….
10	C Raghuram	Turbulent yet Still, bestowed to thrill
11	CD Sawant	Nature's Laughter
12	Deepak Jena	Amazing how saying nothing says everything.
13	Gian Prakash	Divided we fall United we flow
14	GR Sreenivasan	Life is like a waterfall, it is always in motion sometimes copious and at other times just a dribble
15	J Ramamoorty	Cascading delight
16	Jaishankar	कौन कहता हैं की चट्टाने रूकावटे हैं? चट्टान न होते तो झरने की खूबसूरती भी कहां होती?
17	Jyoti Dixit	Cascading and cool
18	Kapil Tikku	Beautiful
19	Kausalya Govindan	Water curtain for all the secrets(geological) behind!
20	Kausalya Govindan	Water veil over stony walls!
21	Kishor Thakre	Elixir of life cascading with splendour and abundance.
22	LS Bhargava	Beautiful and Natural Free Flow of water.
23	Manju Khetan	If you are flexible, falling will not hurt you.
24	Mukul Bhargava	Dancing "On the Rocks"
25	Narendra Soni	झरना कलकल बहता कभी नहीं यह हारता राह में रुकावट आये विकराल रूप धारता
26	Neelima Paroolkar	“ Water water everywhere but not a drop to drink ?”
27	Nidhi Bhargava	प्रकृति का नाच
28	Nidhi Bhargava	Cascading with grace
29	Poonam Bhargava	Gentle at core but mighty on shore!
30	Pradeep Siwach	Nature's way to destress
31	PRR Rao	When you say Waterfall, I hear Wonderful
32	Radhika Sareen	कल कल छल छल बहता झरना, सिखलाता हम को कभी ना रुकना…
33	Radhika Sareen	Falling down will never hurt you if you are like waterfall
34	Radhika Sareen	निर्मल शुद्ध जल, ना रूप ना रंग, है निरपेक्षता का प्रतीक, निरंतर बहता जाता, संदेश दिये चलो सब संग संग....
35	Radhika Sareen	चट्टान हो पहाड हो, मैने नही सीखा रुकना, अपने बल से रास्ते बनाना, यही है मेरा कहना....
36	Radhika Sareen	बल, विकास, शुध्धता, निर्मलता और एकता का प्रतीक....
37	Raghu Trivedi	Spirit of India - Anek se mil kar aik!
38	Rajendra Singh	Cascading down Mother Nature's ageless tresses !
39	Ramanand Baliga	Jaltarang
40	Ranajit Sen	Beauty in a lasting gush
41	Rashmi Bhargava	Happiness comes in rushes
42	Ritu Bhargava	झरने का संगीत इतना मधुर न होता ,अगर राह में कंकर पत्थर न होते।
43	Ritu Bhargava	Life is like waterfall ,always moving .
44	Rohini Tiwari	Yeh gori nadiyon ka chalna uchhal ke....
45	Ruma Purkayastha	Roaring and rearing  it flows !!
46	Shereen Sultana	Falling, yet so strong!
47	Shyamala Charyulu	Water fall teaches us to take all the ways to reach our goals by taking all the probabilities (even a small Gap)
48	SR Murari	Mesmerising waterfalls In our backyard, moves Own yearning, nature's Life, eternal flows
49	Sujata Das	Let go of your ego like a waterfall
50	Susmita Ganguly	It's a messenger of the glacier or source. Each waterfall has a distinct nature and personality.
51	Trixie Asirvatham	Living energy, poetry in motion , bubbling with happiness.
52	Trixie Asirvatham	Waterfalls !  You leave me awestruck , smitten, energised, inspired, calm and peaceful ....and so happy!
53	Trixie Asirvatham	Power that awes me, music that soothes me,  abundance and beauty that inspires me.
54	TSR Swamy	I may sometimes look violent but you still need me to preserve nature.
55	Veeky Baths	Go with the flow!
56	Vinay Prasad	The turbulence turns in to a calm river. That's about life too.
57	Vinod Dhanuka	Power of the flow!
58	VV Ramani	Descent of God's
59	Yogesh	Jeevan chalne ka naam Chalte raho subah o sham

The Winners

Our Jury has selected the following four captions as the winners of KBG-70. We are happy to introduce the winners along with their winning captions below.

Ritu Bhargava sent a caption in Hindi 'झरने का संगीत इतना मधुर न होता ,अगर राह में कंकर पत्थर न होते' meaning the roar of the waterfall would not have been so enticing had it not been for the rocks and boulders blocking it. Ritu has a masters in English literature from Jaipur University. Her interests are cooking music, dance and writing. She is a regular participant and has won several KBG Contests. 

C Raghuram, a winner of many KBG contests, gave a catchy caption 'Turbulent yet still, bestowed to thrill.' It captured the thrill of seeing a roaring waterfall in the picture. As a Flag Officer in the Navy, he inspires his teams to achieve more.  Raghu loves travelling and interacting with people.

Poonam Bhargava's caption 'Gentle at core but mighty on shore!' highlighted another perspective of a waterfall. She is an alumnus of the Lady Irwin College New Delhi. She was a school teacher in Pilani for few years. She loves to be with Nature. Simplicity appeals to her and helping others is her way to happiness.

'Power that awes me, music that soothes me, abundance and beauty that inspires me' was another winning caption by Trixie Asirvatham. She has an MA in Psychology from Lucknow University. From an English teacher to a copywriter to a Creative Director of leading advertising agencies  in India, Trixie's creative pursuits continued with web design companies.  She enjoys singing, playing the guitar and writing songs and poems.

We thank Anchita and Akanksha both the Jury members from California for their time and support.

We end with a PQ- picturesque quote by Confucius who said "Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."

KBG Contests have been very enriching. Your creative captions bring new perspectives on life. Our sincere thanks to each one of our readers.

Stay connected and safe. Covid times are easing out.

    - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Neeta Bhargava/ 22nd Feb 22

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